Knowledge, attitude, and awareness of breast cancer among non-medical female undergraduate students in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: To assess the knowledge and awareness level of breast cancer among Pakistan's management sciences and social sciences female university students. Methodology: A questionnaire was distributed for three months among management sciences and social sciences female undergraduate students from different universities in Karachi. Apart from demographic details, the questionnaire survey consists of 27 items in which 5-items, 10-items and 7-items belong to awareness, knowledge and attitude, respectively. For the awareness section, each item with a positive response comprises of 1-score. Anyone with a cumulative score of ≤ 3 scores were considered “inadequate/poor awareness”, while a cumulative score of ≥ 4 was considered “adequate/good awareness”. Results: In a study of 970 undergraduate female students, divided into management (522) and social sciences (448), the average age was 22.16 years, with most unmarried. About one-fifth had a family member with breast cancer. Awareness levels varied: 64.4% in management and 54.5% in social sciences were aware of breast cancer, but only about one-third were fully aware of detection techniques. General knowledge was low, with 30-35% having a good understanding and 70% very poor. Students with family history of breast cancer showed greater knowledge. Attitudes revealed shyness and fear of diagnosis as barriers to screening, with a preference for hospital screenings and discussions with female doctors. Conclusion: A low level of awareness and knowledge about breast cancer is a huge obstacle in the early detection of breast cancer. There is a need to promote breast cancer knowledge and risk factor awareness among non-medical students who are not from medical background education.